For Target, the Holiday season is the most important time of the year. It’s the equivalent of a SuperBowl or GRAMMYs moment for them—their chance to own a piece of the larger cultural conversation.
My then-partner David Mugford and I concepted and developed the campaign idea for the season, Gather Round. The platform centered on bringing together different types of diverse gatherings, with the brand at the center. Particularly relevant this year was that Target wanted to create its first bilingual/multicultural seasonal platform. So we did.
We partnered with artists Sia, Natalia LaFourcade, and Martin Garrix to reimagine Perry Como’s 1950s hit, “Round and Round,” as a modern-day, crossover classic. I personally composed all-new Spanish lyrics for Natalia LaFourcade to interpret as a central part of our bilingual campaign. The result was three separate original track versions: Sia’s, Natalia’s, and a bilingual crossover mix of the two. The English track debuted on Sia’s Deluxe Holiday album, a Target exclusive. Our recreated song became the soundtrack of our holiday campaign, “Gather Round/Rodar Dar Dar.”
As the campaign expanded, additional teams were brought in to collaborate and help oversee this massive project. All in all, we created a total of 20 English language TV/OLV spots, 18 Spanish language TV/OLV spots, 100+ social cutdowns, 75 wardrobe looks, 3 dog fittings, 45 set designs, 1 brand book, and 1 original, limited-edition, red-hot vinyl album of our song.
Core team:
ECD: Jorge Calleja
CDs: Carmen Love + Julie Liu
ACD: David Mugford
CW: Rocío Ureña + Catharine Ogletree
Jr AD: Mariajosé Cuyán
Designers: Syd Rein + Karen Pham